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I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

To appreciate this column, you're going to have to first acknowledge you've been misled about what's really been transpiring between the Detroit Pistons and Larry Brown.

You think this sorry soap opera is another tale about Brown's wanderlust and double-dealing. Maybe you think it's a riff about his ailing body.

You're wrong.

Larry's history has played a role in this mess. But to understand how a team with back-to-back Finals appearances is likely to be playing next season for its third coach in four years, the truly enlightening factor is the Pistons' history.

Pistons owner Bill Davidson should share the blame for the turmoil in Detroit.
Pistons owner Bill Davidson, former Pistons president and current Palace of Auburn Hills president Tom Wilson, Pistons spokesman Matt Dobek and Pistons president Joe Dumars have so many media members (not all of them, but enough) in their hip pockets that I can't really blame you for being confused.

You've read the stories they've wanted you to read.

Larry Brown isn't loyal.

Larry Brown is a gigantic distraction.

Larry Brown's players don't believe in him.

Larry Brown wants to coach in New York.

Larry Brown wants to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Well, today I'm going to share the other side of those stories, the side that Davidson, Wilson, Dobek and Dumars don't want you to read.

Larry Brown didn't ask me to share it. In fact, when I reached Brown Wednesday afternoon, he wouldn't discuss anything with me, on or off the record. Heck, the story I'm about to share is one Larry probably knows little about. He might even disagree with it.

Davidson and his right-hand man, Wilson, might be the most hypocritical, back-stabbing executives in all of sports. They could tutor Al Davis.

Brown isn't the first (or last) Pistons employee Davidson and Wilson have tossed under the bus once they've squeezed what they've wanted from him. Ask Isiah Thomas. Or Chuck Daly. Or Don Chaney. Or Rick Carlisle. Or Doug Collins. Or Jack McCloskey.

You think it's unethical or disloyal for Brown's agent to explore a management position in Cleveland while the Pistons are in the playoffs? You think Bill Davidson was justifiably offended?

Well, then, do you think it was unethical or disloyal for the Pistons to sew up a deal with Brown to replace Carlisle while the Pistons were wrapping up the 2003 regular season and playoffs?

Do some homework. Find out how Chuck Daly felt when Mr. D(avidson) hired Ron Rothstein as a radio color commentator during Daly's last season. Daly, who delivered two championships to Detroit, spent his final year on the Pistons' bench with his successor (Rothstein) looking over his shoulder and second-guessing him over the airwaves.

Oh, yeah, Mr. D and Wilson are all class. They demand loyalty and give none.

For weeks, we've heard constant reports about how Mr. D was "put off" that Brown flirted with Cleveland and spoke glowingly of his hometown Knicks. People reported these stories like they were some sort of crime against humanity.

If it was a crime, what kind of felony is it for an organization to make a habit of picking a coaching successor long before the end of the season when the coach in place hasn't yet been dismissed? The latest: Flip Saunders' name began to circulate among Pistons media puppets in February.

Around that same time, Wilson and Dobek began their assault on Brown's shaky reputation, trashing Brown to members of the media who couldn't wait to show how tough they are by beating up on a short-time employee.

Joe Dumars has constructed a great team in Detroit. But he's guilty in this Larry Brown mess as well.
A veteran Pistons reporter told me that when Wilson was president of the Pistons, Chaney and Collins suffered through similar assaults just before they were let go by sweet Mr. D. It was during this time that Detroit reporters tagged Wilson with the nickname "Teflon Tom" for his ability to avoid blame whenever the Pistons had to scrap one of his failed plans.

How did Teflon Tom become Mr. D's right-hand man? He oversaw the end of Mr. D's relationship with the greatest Piston of all time, Isiah "Zeke" Thomas.

Thomas was supposed to be a Piston for life. Late in Isiah's final season, the Pistons even held a Piston-for-life press conference for the man most responsible for Detroit's first two championships and the construction of The Palace. Isiah was supposed to get the kind of deal Magic Johnson has with the Lakers -- a piece of the organization, a fancy title and a fat check.

But guess who just happened to run into public-relations problems just before the deal was complete? And guess who benefited?

Zeke and Teflon Tom.

Yep, nasty rumors about Isiah, gambling and unsavory characters, as well as a premature leak of the news that Isiah was to be named president of the Pistons, "offended" Mr. D and ended their fairy-tale, father-son relationship.

Isiah was tossed out of the Pistons family, and Teflon Tom became president of the Pistons and The Palace. His official reign over the franchise ended when Dumars became the club's top executive. Wilson now operates from the shadows, but he and his flunkies are still highly effective.

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

He's forgetting one thing about all these negative stories coming out of D, they're based on facts.

I can understand the fact of disliking management leak stories left and right, not the class thing to do. But the starting line was drawn by Larry himself. Don't start reaching out your tenicles, then not expect people who are depending on you to call it out. It would be a little bit different if this was the first time it's happened with LB, but it's not.

Hell, if my coach was trying to test the waters while my team was currently playing for a championship, I'd paint him the same way to let people know why he's going to be gone. Nothing like firing him, and no one know the reason just to listen to them b**** and moan about something they know nothing about.

Sorry for the onesided rant. I have zero respect for a man that continually jumps ship in the middle of things. He's worse than TO in my mind right about now.

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

He's forgetting one thing about all these negative stories coming out of D, they're based on facts.

I can understand the fact of disliking management leak stories left and right, not the class thing to do. But the starting line was drawn by Larry himself. Don't start reaching out your tenicles, then not expect people who are depending on you to call it out. It would be a little bit different if this was the first time it's happened with LB, but it's not.

Hell, if my coach was trying to test the waters while my team was currently playing for a championship, I'd paint him the same way to let people know why he's going to be gone. Nothing like firing him, and no one know the reason just to listen to them b**** and moan about something they know nothing about.

Sorry for the onesided rant. I have zero respect for a man that continually jumps ship in the middle of things. He's worse than TO in my mind right about now.

Just an observation. Who was it that negotiated with Brown while Carlisle was still coach, and what did that teach him?

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

Just an observation. Who was it that negotiated with Brown while Carlisle was still coach, and what did that teach him?

Actually, it appears to me that the two sides deserve each other.

yup...and thats why this is pretty comical.....and i just love the fact that larry is basically giving them a dose of their own medicine....

rick was a class act and wouldnt go there....it was poetic justice when they hired brown....u knew it would come to this....now both sides are just trying to figure out how to get out looking the better of the two parties....and its hilarious....

and bottom line is, im not sure....but i think larry may have them over a barrel...hes calling their bluff....and i think they might blink...and now theyre just trying to figure out how to save face....and im sure they will come up with something creative...

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

I always wondered why Carlisle was treated so badly, yet here he was such a class guy. I am so glad we have guys like the Simons, Larry, Donnie, and Rick running this franchise. I would be too pissed if we had Detroit's management.

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

i've never liked larry brown......it always seems like controversy follows him around and he acts like a drama queen...especially with the media. i admire dumars though, he's a class act and has done a hell of a job.

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

NOpe....I won't even give Joe D props. They're all dirty IMO. The owners, Mgmnt, players, and even Brown. None of em have the cajones to stand up and tell the truth about anything. Whether it is about this or the brawl, NONE of them are willing to do anything but point their finger at the other guy. So none of them deserve any respect IMO.

A POX on the whole organization.

If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around..

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

Nice pic, KStat! That one's a keeper...I'll trot that out to my friends at least a hundred times before I get tired of it!!

As far as the Pistons go, I've never thought they were a class organization, even during the Zeke years....I agree that Mr. Wilson is a pr!ck...Wasn't his statement after the brawl that Artest had it coming for laying on the scorer's table? (When we all know he had it coming because we kicked their @sses up and down the court that night and Ben-dover Wallace was still feeling vulnerable from a loss in the family....) I can tell Ben's brother was still "grieving" too.....

As for trading our ethics and our reputations for a championship, our title wouldn't mean any more than the Pistons lastest one does, or last year's Eastern Conference title does. I'll take being a loser and being able to look myself in the mirror any day.

A championship doesn't mean much if you have to compromise your integrity to get it. Just ask Reggie Miller.....

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

NOpe....I won't even give Joe D props. They're all dirty IMO. The owners, Mgmnt, players, and even Brown. None of em have the cajones to stand up and tell the truth about anything. Whether it is about this or the brawl, NONE of them are willing to do anything but point their finger at the other guy. So none of them deserve any respect IMO.

A POX on the whole organization.

Whew! wow...sorry 'bout that...caught me at the wrong moment on the wrong day. I didn't mean the whole org....I'll give players props, they afterall are employees and like hired hands everywhere...keep their mouths shut when there is trouble at home. The mgmnt and owners tho.............

If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around..

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

I always wondered why Carlisle was treated so badly, yet here he was such a class guy. I am so glad we have guys like the Simons, Larry, Donnie, and Rick running this franchise. I would be too pissed if we had Detroit's management.

Yes, Larry and Donnie have never dumped a coach like the Pistons did with Carlisle.

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

I do like what I see of Larry Brown, but I have always suspected something fishy about him. For such a classy guy, he sure is cought up in a lot of drama, and its not like its only happened once or twice.

I wouldn't say Rick "didn't cut it," he was just replaced because a bigger name became available.

All the controversy surrounding Brown has been brought upon by himself. He's the definition of two-faced and hypocrite.

Re: I'm sure you guys will be interested in this.

Larry and Donnie didn't have the media bad-mouth the crap out of Isiah like they did with Rick.

True.

I wasn't faulting Larry and Donnie for it. I'm just pointing out that everyone in this business can be cut throat if they have to be. Leading JO to believe that Isiah was going to be the coach, that was cut throat. They did what they had to do to keep the player they wanted, and then get the coach they wanted.